Editor’s Letter

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December’s theme is TIME TRAVEL. Here’s what kinds of submissions we’re looking for, plus info on how to send us your work. ✴

About Rookie

Rookie is an online magazine and book series for teenagers. Each month, a different editorial theme drives the writing, photography, and artwork that we publish. Learn more about us here, and find out how to submit your work here!

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When I started thinking about the possibility of Rookie a year or so ago, it seemed like a good venue for pure aesthetic enjoyment and smart, fun writing. As my freshman year of high school progressed, I found myself needing something that could be more than that. I suppose that was a result of some experiences specific to me, and some more typical among females my age. But I don’t want to even think about what makes someone “just your average teenage girl,” or whether I fit that mold, or if that’s who will read Rookie. It seems that entire industries are based on answering these very questions. Who is the typical teenage girl? What does she want? (And, a lot of the time, How can we get her allowance?)

I don’t have the answers. Rookie is not your guide to Being a Teen. It is not a pamphlet on How to Be a Young Woman. (If it were, it would be published by American Girl and your aunt would’ve given it to you in the fifth grade.) It is, quite simply, a bunch of writing and art we like and believe in. While there’s always danger in generalizing a whole group of people, I do think some experiences are somewhat universal to being a teenager, specifically a female one. Rookie is a place to make the best of the beautiful pain and cringe-worthy awkwardness of being an adolescent girl. When it becomes harder to appreciate these things, we also have good plain fun and visual pleasure. When you’re sick of having to be happy all the time, we have lots of eye-rolling rants, too.

Infinite big fat thank-you’s to late-night superhero Anaheed Alani, life- and butt-saver Emily Condon, Cool Dad Ira Glass, fairy godmother Jane Pratt, my dad, our amazing site-building team, and all of our wonderful writers, photographers, illustrators, collagers, and thinkers. All of these rascals agreed to take part in this project before there was the slightest possibility of paying them in grownup cash and not candy and mix CDs. THIS IS AMAZING. Do you know how much human beings like money?? We’ve got a special bunch here! They have dug deep into their hearts and souls and Netflix Instant queues to provide the wonderful content for this site, so please, please respect what they have to say. If something rubs you the wrong way, tell us, but be levelheaded and thoughtful. Internet fighting is not only redundant, it makes other people too shy to share what they want.

On that note, do feel free to mosey on over to our You page, where you’ll find out where to submit your writing, brag about how great your friend is, ask questions about frizzy hair, and much more I won’t list here in case it overwhelms your brain.

We post three times a day: roughly when school ends, when dinner starts and when it’s really late and you should be writing a paper but are Facebook stalking instead. (Oh. It’s just me who does that? Cool.) (Also, LIAR.) Every month of this site will be a differently themed issue, and our theme for September is “Beginnings.” Firsts and starts and back-to-school, etc. And, of course, the beginning of Rookie.

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Tavi!!! This is the only thing that has made me sad about being in my final year of high school! Don’t worry, I’ll still read along and reminice/feel nostalgic…. though I’m sure I’ll still find lots of relevancy/things to fall in love with!!
S O E X C I T E D
X

In the late 90s (which doesn’t seem so far away in my mind, but Jesus am I getting old) All I had were magazine which consisted of a bunch of 20 somethings talking at me about how I could shoebox myself into the stereotypical behavior patterns of what was acceptable for a teen to act like.

I am so happy to see that this site exists to open up discourse about how young-ish people really are and should be. What’s more, is that they have an intelligent someone like you, and your brilliant staff to lead the way.

This magazine will be the rock magazine ever for teenage girl. I hope there’s so many discussion about Fashion (Vintage #yay or something like that) also stuffs that every teenage girl like to wear to. This is gonna makes a big inspiration for everyone, Tavi. Good job! (:

You did it! It’s happening! I have this weird feeling in my chest right now…confusing…slightly uncomfortable..oh wait, I’m totally proud of you…that’s it! Wish there had been something like this when I was in high school, it REALLY has the potential to be life changing for so many people. No pressure though ;)

Tavi! I’m so happy this is finally happening. I’m excited for you and I’m excited for the fifteen year old girls who will read this instead of some magazine that tells them how to trim their tummies and get football playing boyfriends who pay for dinner and buy them Coach wristlets and drive them to school. (Was that weird? Some pent up rage leftover from high school? Sorry.) I can’t wait to see what Rookie has in store and I’ll be here watching, every step of the way. You’re the boss, applesauce. <3

Exhilarating. I like this concept a whole lot. Mostly because I feel like this is sort of like that upperclassmen taking the Freshman by the hand while giving them cool clothes and good music to listen to.

Whilst in my teen years I was actually confident, could navigate easily through our ridiculously sized high school (Neuqua Valley) and didn’t have the teen angst going for me. Sure, I could have been more secure, but I had the ‘teen stuff’ down pat. Or so I thought.

The peculiar part? I’m 23 and now feel the angst and hostility of a 15 year old girl. I’m not quite sure what happened, but I’m sure bottling up years of work rage and bad MTV specials will cause the eruption in my early 20s. Sometimes I wish I had those “WHO AM I AND WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO BE?!” freakouts in high school and I’m sure I did. What made it easier was that I felt it was out of my place to worry, because I knew how much worrying would be ahead. I decided to save it all. whoops! This will be a good remedy for all of that.

The comment about American Girl was amazing, I spent my childhood and tween years religiously buying those books and magazines, wishing I could have the perfect life like they instructed. Honestly I’m glad I didn’t achieve that unachievable perfection. I bet I would be quite Arid if I had…

Even though I’m a freshman in college – not high school, I have been looking forward to this site forever! I can’t wait to dig in deeper and see what its all about. Good luck with everything, you seem like a great human being.

I had been looking forward to Rookie for the longest while and now that it’s finally here, I am ecstatic! You’ve made my day (and days to come) infinitely brighter once again. Oh and did you get those telepathic thoughts I sent your way? Because my first year of high school starts this week and it’s like you KNEW exactly what I needed to get through it…
Congratulations Tavi (and all those who are a part of this awesome haven) on this milestone!

This looks like it’s going to be a great big piece of work. I think this is going to be a really good alternative “guide” if you will. I’m looking forward to the progress. Let me know if you need anything artsy-related.

-Atlan
(you’re really good at writing too, but I knew that since 4th grade anyways)

The website looks brilliant. Though I’m almost out of my teen years, I think it is so great what you are accomplishing. I wish that there had been something like this when I was younger. You’re such an inspiration, Tavi, and I know that this will be a success. Good Luck:)

HELL YEAH LETS GET THIS THING STARTED!
Ive been anticipating this for AGES, and it’s such a perfect idea…I have spent so long looking for sites and blogs that empower girls and have original and interesting and fun content, and though i found som e great ones (HelloGiggles, xojane, ellegirl, feminist tumblrs) but i never felt like they connected with me, a feminist 15 year old irish girl!

So I just wanted you to know that I’m starting my sophomore year of college (two weeks ago, so “started” really), but I’m still damn excited about this website and whatever plasma brilliance is being created over in Tavi-land. I don’t know if I’ll ever close this tab.
<3 Lovely

Hi,
I’m from Brazil, and learned about you from a friend on Facebook
I loved the idea that here, even having already finished my high school.
sorry for the mistakes in the writing, I’m not very good with it yet …
XOXO

From when I first discovered your blog, I knew you were destine for ingenious greatness, this site is an enjoyable, yet practical resource for young girls. It definitely makes me reminisce about my teenage years,( boys, love, identity, beauty and so forth). As a writer it’s also exhilarating to see original content, your staff is amazing, and corresponding to your persona ;), keep motivating and inspiring young girls, its much needed in today’s social settings. God bless you in all your future endeavors.

So excited about this! im so glad that someone has made an honest, unpatronizing site for teen girls, and of course it was you tavi ! your originality inspires me to embrace my own, which isnt always encouraged by peers. I already know im going to love this site.
jess, 15, london.

Congrats on the new site! It looks amazing, and I wish it had been around when I was a teenager.

I just have to know…whose idea was it to include a pic of Todd Manning on the mood board?? When I was 15 (in 1995), I was OBSESSED with him! Seeing him & Blair smack dab in the middle of September’s collage made me so excited, I got up and started running joy circles around my apartment for lack of a cooler way to handle the situation =)

congrats tavi:) ive read your blogs and and i know i spotted you once at pasadena’s rosebowl flea market eons ago! i know it sounds like im a creeper but im just a vintage store cashier girl who happen to read an article one day on you in an artsy mag and have been visiting every so often on your bolg!
you’re adorable and hilarious and once again congrats on your website!

Hey PhoenixErin: The moodboard represents the month’s posts. Each image represents some piece that will be posted that day. So, YES, on 9/21 we’re publishing a post by your new BFF twin soul, Stephanie, about her deep & abiding love for Todd Manning and OLTL.

I’m a 25 year old Aussie, (yet to be published) teen novel writer, and I FREAKING LOVE YOUR MAG! I seriously think you and the other writers could write about the most boring subject on the planet and it would still be entertaining! So loving your writing style!
:)

I just finished going through everything posted so far. This really feels like the start of something amazing and ridiculously positive for both younger and older girls (considering I guess I qualify for the latter category now). It may be focused on teens, but I think that this will be inspiring for girls of any age. I like the idea of a cross-generational female community here. Can’t wait for the 11 o’clock post.

The entire site is fabulous, first off!
I cannot believe how original it is. The posting at different times of the day…genius!! And all the articles/categories are out of this world.
I am looking forward to this website being bookmarked on my browser :)

wish i had something smart like this to relate to when i was the younger version of myself… and i’m enjoying reading this as the older version – even though i have still yet to “grow up” entirely – great work here… keep it up

Amazing site, I feel kind of melancholic though.. it’s for teenage girls, I’m turning 20 next year, makes me wish it was around when I was in my adolescent years, Tavi. <3 Now I feel like a creeeeper, good work on the site though!

Yessss, I’ve been waiting for this forever! Or rather, since I was 14, reading YM and Seventeen in the orthodontist’s waiting room and trying to figure out who exactly I was supposed to be.

Now it’s ten years later and my younger sister is starting high school. Although I can’t be there 24/7 to lend her my clothes/introduce her to good music/be the older sister I’d wished I had at that age, I can (and totally will) plaster her Facebook wall with links to Rookie!

Ok, so I will happily admit that I’m an oldie, an out of highschooler,(nearly out of uni-er!1) but I am nonetheless really freaking ecstatic about this new project of yours and I can’t wait to see how it all evolves. Also, despite age and “life experience”, etc etc, every woman has Daria moments every now and again ;)

I feel exactly how SS180Girl and others feel. I’m almost 25 and am so excited about this site (I’ll be here every day); I just wish this had been around 10 years ago! Congratulations, Tavi! You are amazing.

The line of comments are so long that I could not keep up with them and I don’t know how you can..unless you have an army of helpers!

Well.. I have to confess I am old enough to be your mom, or maybe a young lovely granny… but please don’t ask me about my age, OK? :)

I just wanted to say if I had a daughter like you, I would be soooooo proud. And I’m sure all of your moms are very proud right now. Keep up with the good work. God bless you all.

PS: I will be reading your posts from now on… as much as I can… and whenever I find time. I supervise a lab and also teach in the university, so I have to read the students’ essays, study for my classes and supervise some projects, or I will be fired! I will try to make time to keep up with you, I promise! Maybe I will be the oldest fan of your posts, who knows?!

Aaah, it’s here at least!
The good thing is, I thought people would just keep the person who wrote and they’d be the only ones to write, but apparently I was wrong.
I really like the aesthetic of the website.
After reading this, the thing I think I am going to like is, the fact maybe it will try to reappropriate stereotypes about teenagers and gender in a way that is empowering. Ie: not alienating those who does fit too much into the stereotype, or those who doesn’t enough if at all.
As it is partly written by teenagers, there is less risk of “adultsplaining”.
I wish I’ll read things about gendervariant people here. I know a forum for that, but… I just don’t feel “well” on it.

tavi, i am so glad i am a teenage girl right now, like you don’t even know.

it’s a bit of a “thing” now, to reminisce about the 90s (even if you don’t really remember them), to be in love with sassy and riot grrrl and all those cool things that made that era great. but the fact that this website is up and running and people like me are already in love proves that we don’t need to dream about an era like that. teenage girls can make that shit happen.

we can write the magazines we want to read and say the words we need to hear and do the things we so desperately want to be done. we can make 2010 or whatever go down in history as the era where teenage girls had a wealth of funny, smart, feminist media all around them to draw inspiration from, and that is why this is making me so jazzed. i am happy. happy happy happy.

i wish you infinite success with this project, and i know it will only get better from here.

Hi Tavi, oh my gosh this is the website of my dreams! I wish I could write something beautiful and eloquent like all the messages above mine, but what I will say is thank you so much for doing this! I really do feel happy to be a teenage girl right now xo

I am really happy I found a site where I love everything that was posted. I don’t usually comment on blogs I read because all comments are pretty similar but I couldn’t help but writing congratulations for this site I could not be more identified with :}

Congrats! I can’t wait to watch the success of this project flourish :) Very excited to read and check in every day. I am looking forward to new updates. I hope there will be some sort of entry about netflix movie recommendations based on your comment in your editor’s letter!!! I would absolutely LOVE that. Thanks and again congrats!!!

Your new website is lovely just like your blog. I am uber excited about it! I wish there was a site like this when i was 15 which was 6 years ago now. However I still love to read your words of wisdom. U go girl. xo

Tavi, you`re SO great!
I´m living in germany (that explains my english, but I´m still practicing) and it´s so interesting for me to learn something about the american high school!
This site is totally GREAT!
Greetings from Germany!

Stumbled on this site and think it’s awesome. I’m going to tell my daughter about it and I hope that she doesn’t reject it just because her mom is the one to tell her about it! Maybe I’ll just leave it up on her laptop…..

i’m honestly in love with this site already, i brought it up for the second time today and it was just the worst day and the after school special was on bad days :”) i feel like i can already anticipate every post being scarily relevant to my life, time to embrace my inner stereotypical teenager

There are always new magazine or books coming out that talk about how great it is to be a young girl and advertising that they’re revolutionary and are the first to truely understand what it’s like to be a kid. Bull Crap. No one has ever asked a teenage girl what’s it like; I think they just watch Disney channel and play off of that. Rookie actually understands us (yeah, we need to be understood) and writes interesting pieces, I already like Rookie better than anything else right now.

Thanks to everyone who had anything to do with this site, even if you gave your napkin to one of the editors during lunch. If that editor hadn’t gotten a napkin, then she would’ve had to go find one before her no-fat mayo fell on the keyboard. And that could’ve slowed down the entire process, because mayo gets stuck between the keys.

I just ran across this site, and I love it. Seriously, some of the stuff they put out now just makes me sick because it’s so staged, but this, this makes me laugh and think, and it’s actually about real girls in real life.

I just wanted to say hi, and above all, I wanted to tell you that it’s the best online magazine I’ve ever read. Thank you so much for making me happy every day with Rookie !
Kisses from France, that is to say, from where I read Rookie.
<3

Rookie is the most refreshingly amazing thing I have come across… besides freaks and geeks of course! Rookie made me realize what I was missing . . . truth about who teenage girls are! We are complicated and interesting and crazy and don’t give a shit about out our “fruit shape”. We love Bob Dylan/ want to be with Bob Dylan/ be with him forever/ … is that just me? And, most important of all; Rookie doesn’t tell us to “be yourselves”, because newsflash world; we haven’t figured that out yet! So I’d like to thank Tavi and the rest of the beautifully awesome Rookie staff for sharing this gift!